James Ensor~~ 1860-1949~~ Sal Atticu

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James Ensor was destined to carry on the rich tradition of Flemish art that embodied the grotesque, commented on society, and tapped into mythology and magic. Like Bruegel and Bosch before him, Ensor was preoccupied with pain, suffering, joy, and wonder. However, being a child of an enlightened age, he was able to experiment more freely and personally than his predecessors. The luminous light, colors, and mood of the sea near Ostend, Belgium where Ensor was born (and from where he never left) enthralled and inspired him. The water and sky were constantly changing and Ensor noticed every change. His early work attempted to capture sky and sea as he saw and felt it. He remained obsessed with light and color his whole life.

Ensor grew up browsing his mother’s curio shop which was full of shells, sea plants, mounted taxidermic animals, china, coral, and most importantly for Ensor, dozens of Carnival masks. The shop sustained the family financially. Ensor’s father, a foreigner born in England, had difficulty finding work and he became depressed and alcoholic. He was the only one in the family who encouraged Ensor’s art. His mother refused to sell his paintings in her store (even the tame early paintings of seascapes and skies). This kind of rejection would dog Ensor throughout his career. Later in life it would be art critics that discouraged him. He wrote, “Disparagement beats down on me like hail, my umbrella is always at hand, I’m abused, I’m insulted, I exist, I’m mad, I’m simpleminded, I’m nasty, wicked, incapable, ignorant, a ‘cream puff gone rotten,’ and my placid interiors and bourgeois salons are hotbeds of revolution.” Perhaps this reaction to the relatively conservative work of his early years snuffed out his will to please. As he gave up on placating critics and public with paintings from nature and life, he turned instead inward to the wondrous, rich, and varied world of his imagination. He had nothing to lose.

Ensor had some formal training in art, but his time at school in Brussels left him bitter and indifferent to academics. He preferred learning from the art magazines his father subscribed to, along with absorbing all he could from history and literature. He was influenced by J.M.W. Turner, Rembrandt, Francisco Goya, and the British caricaturist William Hogarth. Ensor learned by painting his family and more than one hundred self portraits. He was introspective and often portrayed himself as Christ— tormented from all sides. He also painted and drew himself as a skeleton, a character that would become ubiquitous in his work. He was obsessed with death—not strange for someone sensitive, moody, and perhaps a little neurotic. Death is also a reminder of life and its value; without acknowledging death, life might be squandered. Bones are the most enduring part of the body and Ensor wanted his work and memory to endure. That was the reason he took up printmaking, so that his works could be produced after he was gone. Ensor mostly painted in oils, using a lot of white paint that gave his work a feeling of thick frosting. Light clearly trumps dark, as it did in his early works of sea and sky. Ensor was a master draftsman, which the quality of his many prints and drawings attest to. He drew from life quite nicely, but had more to say than realism allowed.

Ensor loved masks and painted them endlessly. The Medieval ritual of Carnival has deep roots in Belgium, and the masks his mother sold and that were worn before Lent impressed Ensor deeply. Something about their nature and how they reflected humanity interested him and suited his work. Ensor claimed he loved masks because they offended the public that had received him so poorly. Perhaps he felt that most people were a bit insincere, or at least not what they seemed to be. He often used his art to criticize those he felt had wronged him personally or wronged society at large. He was once jailed for drawing a caricature of Kaiser Wilhelm. “The Bad Doctors” shows surgeons using corkscrews to yank an enormous tapeworm (along with innards) out of a distressed man while death hovers in the doorway. Ensor endured an undiagnosed tapeworm for many months, which sapped his energy and health. It seems he didn’t think highly of the doctors who treated his malady. He portrays them wielding all manner of frightening implements as they pick each others pockets!

Ensor painted for decades in the attic studio he created in his parent’s house. He rarely left Ostend, except for brief visits to France, England, the Netherlands, and for his short time at art school in Brussels. He was a lifelong bachelor, though he maintained an enduring romantic relationship with Augusta Boogaerts. His friend Blanche Rousseau described him thus: “A large figure, pale and black with extraordinary, timid, challenging, gentle, sarcastic and shy eyes. He had the appearance of a humiliated Christ, or a yearning Satan.” The people in town called him Pietje de Dood—the grim reaper. Ensor was a funny, caustic, sensitive soul who delighted in masking and sometimes unmasking humanity. 

Popular success evaded Ensor for the first half of his life. He was beaten down by critics  as crude and scandalous. He felt utterly unappreciated in spite of his prolific output and dedication to work. Paul Klee, Emile Nolde, and Wassily Kandinsky were all influenced by him. However, he kept making art and exhibiting and eventually achieved success later in life. Perhaps society had caught up with his vision by the turn of the century. In 1903 he was knighted and in 1933 he won the Legion of Honor. The success was bittersweet, however, because his creative flame had long ago burned out. He more or less stopped making meaningful work after 1895—the accolades had come too late. In later years he enjoyed taking daily walks through town and by the sea. He also enjoyed playing music. Though he was untrained, he often played his harmonium for visitors (only the black keys). He died a well-loved artist and local character.

©2016 Alice DuBois

For More Information See:

• "James Ensor, 1860-1949: Theatre Of Masks" by Carol Brown, Barbican Art Gallery 1997
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ensor